


Way Down Berlintown

by nazaleas



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell, Shadowrun: Dragonfall
Genre: Crossover, Dialogue, Gen, Humor, Reaction, Silly, What Have I Done, when fandoms collide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-20 15:31:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19994533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nazaleas/pseuds/nazaleas
Summary: Two shadowrunners listen to the Hadestown Broadway Cast Recording. Hilarity (hopefully) ensues.





	1. Act I

**Author's Note:**

> Zee and Dietrich, from my Berlin 2054 series, have Thoughts about the Hadestown OBCR.

Dietrich: “Laying down the bass line with a trombone. I gotta respect that.”

**(“People turn on you just like the wind/Everybody is a fair weather friend/In the end, you’re better off alone/Any way the wind blows.”)**

Zee: “I’ve been there. It’s a lonely way to live.”

**(“Don’t come on too strong.” “Come home with me?”)**

Dietrich: *snorts with laughter* “Bold opening move.”

**(“He’s not like any man you’ve met. Tell her what you’re workin’ on.”)**

Zee: “All of us want a wingman that good and none of us deserve one.”

**(“A song to fix what’s wrong/Take what’s broken, make it whole/A song so beautiful/It brings the world back into tune/Back into time/And all the flowers bloom.”)**

Dietrich: *raises an eyebrow* “Ohhhh…he’s Awakened.”

Zee: “You think?”

Dietrich: “Oh yeah. Besides, Hermes said he was ‘touched by the gods’. Old timey speak for the same thing.”

**(“Lover, tell me if you can/Who’s gonna buy the weddings bands?/Times being what they are/Hard and getting harder all the time.”)**

Zee: “Good girl. Don’t let him wiggle out of this.”

**(“Lover, when I sing my song/All the rivers’ll sing along!/And they’re gonna break their banks for us/And with their gold be generous/All a-flashin’ in the pan/All to fashion for your hand/The rivers gonna give us the wedding bands.”)**

Dietrich: “He’s really thought this out for having only met her 10 minutes ago.”

**(“How’d you do that?” “I don’t know.”)**

Dietrich: “Called it!”

Zee: “You did.”

Dietrich: “Wonder who his totem is.”

**(“The gods sang a song of love/And the world sang it with them.”)**

Dietrich: “Okay, I see how this works.”

Zee: “This is gonna be one of those magic things I really don’t get, isn’t it?”

Dietrich: “That’s okay. The world would be boring if everybody understood everything.”

Zee: *tartly* “Thanks.”

**(“Brother, when you’re down, you’re down/When you’re up, you’re up/If you ain’t six feet underground/You’re livin’ it up on top/Let’s not talk about hard times/Pour the wine, it’s summertime!”)**

Dietrich: “I like her style.”

Zee: *deadpan* “You don’t say.”

**(“So right now we’re livin’ it/How are we livin’ it?/** **Livin’ it, livin’ it up!”)**

Dietrich: *sings along, very off key*

Zee: “It never ceases to amaze me how much you can’t sing.”

Dietrich: “It shouldn’t.”

**(“To the patroness/of all of this/Persephone!”)**

Dietrich: “Oh, so _Persephone’s_ his totem.”

Zee: “Makes sense.”

**(“All I’ve ever know is how to hold my own/but now I wanna hold you too.”)**

Zee: *sighs, then sees Dietrich smiling at her from the corner of her eye* “What?”

Dietrich: *shakes his head* “Nothing.”

Zee: “I just…I get that.”

Dietrich: *nods gently* “Yeah. *teasingly* “You know, he’s probably a virgin.”

Zee: “Everybody was once. Even you, a million years ago.”

Dietrich: “Hey! Only a hundred thousand, thank you.”

**(“All I know is you’re someone I have always known.”)**

Zee: *glances at Dietrich*

Dietrich: *glances at Zee*

*they smile*

**(“Way down, Hadestown/Way down under the ground.”)**

Dietrich: “This is a really peppy number for a place that sounds like a real shithole.”

Zee: “Seriously. Hungry, tired, broke, and Persephone’s planning on spending the whole time either drunk or high. That’s a ringing endorsement.”

**(“You’re early.” “I missed ya.”)**

Zee: “She sounds pissed.”

Dietrich: “He sounds like a dick.”

**(“Kinda makes you wonder how it feels…”)**

Zee: “He’s the only one who’ll ever know, Eurydice. That’s how the game works.”

**(“He came too soon. He came for her too soon. It’s not supposed to be like this.” “Well, until someone brings the world back into tune. This is how it is.”)**

Zee: “Hint, hint.”

**(“We need food. We need firewood.”)**

Zee: “Somehow I think you’re better at procurement that he is anyway, Eurydice.”

Dietrich: “I get the feeling Orpheus is one of ‘Oops! I forgot to eat!’ types.”

Zee: “Right before his blood sugar bottoms out.”

**(“He thinks of his wife, in the arms of the sun/And jealousy fuels him/And feeds him and fills him/With doubt that she’ll ever come/Dread that she’ll never come/Doubt that his lover/Will never come back”)**

Zee: “Can you psychoanalyze someone with magic?”

Dietrich: “Well, **I** can’t, but…it’s possible.” *shrugs* “It’s magic. Anything’s possible.”

Zee: *half to herself* “Technology makes so much more sense.”

Dietrich: “Whatever you say, love.”

**(“In the coldest time of year/Why is it so hot down here?/Hotter than a crucible/It ain’t right, and it ain’t natural.” “Lover, you were gone so long/Lover, I was lonesome/So I built a foundry/In the ground beneath your feet.”)**

Zee: “Man, did Orpheus call it or what?”

**(“So I laid a power grid/In the ground on which you stood/And wasn’t it electrifying/When I made the neon shine!”)**

Zee: “‘I got bored while you were gone, so I invented industrialism!’”

Dietrich: “And Persephone’s all ‘You tremendous fucker.’”

**(“I can’t feel the rhythm…I can’t find the tune…”)**

Dietrich: *grimaces* “Poor kid.”

**(“And that is the reason we’re on this road/And the seasons are wrong/And the wind is so strong/That’s why times are so hard/It’s because of the gods/The gods have forgotten the song of their love!”)**

Dietrich: “Oh shit.”

Zee: *raises an eyebrow*

Dietrich: “You ever get the feeling that something is just WRONG, and you're so close to figuring out the solution you can almost taste it?”

Zee: “All the time, when I'm coding.”

Dietrich: “Now imagine it won't go away, no matter what you do, or try to do.”

Zee: *grimaces as well* “Has that ever happened to you?”

Dietrich: “Oh yeah.”

Zee: “What do you do about it?”

Dietrich: “Me, I find an ass that needs kicking. Him? He’s gotta finish that song.”

**(“Did you think I’d be impressed/With this neon necropolis?”)**

Dietrich: “Translation: You tremendous fucker.”

**(“Hey little songbird/Gimme a song.”)**

Zee: “Ah, the old ‘my wife doesn’t appreciate me’ routine.”

Dietrich: “Told you he was a dick.”

**(“Lemme guess/He’s some kinda poet, and he’s penniless?/You give him your hand/he’ll give you his hand/to mouth.”)**

Zee: “Ouch. That’s dirty.”

**(“Life ain’t easy/Life ain’t fair/A girl’s gotta fight for a rightful share/Whatcha gonna do when the chips are down/now that the chips are down?”)**

Dietrich: *notices Zee frowning* “You okay, love?”

Zee: “Sometimes I wonder, what I would done, if not for Monika. What I might have had to do to survive. And they’re not _wrong_. And neither was Hades. People do get mean.”

Dietrich: “Not Orpheus, though. He’s about as mean as a dachshund puppy in a fuzzy sweater.”

Zee: “I don't think he’s the one she’s worried about. She's got faith in him, just not in herself.”

**(“I'm already gone.”)**

Zee: “Poor girl.”

**(“Go ahead and lay the blame/Talk of virtue/Talk of sin...”)**

Zee: *makes a face* “Don’t you lecture me.”

**(“Mr. Hermes!” “Hey, the big artiste!”)**

Dietrich: “And here comes the dachshund puppy in a fuzzy sweater.”

**(“She called your named before she left/but I guess you weren’t listening.”)**

Zee: “Damn, Hermes. You gotta nut punch the guy like that?”

**(“Wait for me/I’m coming/Wait, I’m coming with you.”)**

Dietrich: “Gotta give the kid credit – his big dramatic gesture instincts are solid.”

Zee: “What do you expect? He’s a poet.”

**(“That town will try to suck you dry/They’ll suck your brains, they’ll suck your breath/They’ll pluck the heart right out of your chest/Truss you up in your Sunday best/And stuff your mouth with cotton!”)**

Dietrich: “Again, this place sounds shitty.”

**(“I’m comin’, wait for me/I hear the walls repeating/The fallin’ of my feet, and/It sounds like drummin’!”)**

Zee: “You think he heard anything Hermes just said?”

Dietrich: “Yeah, I just don’t think he cares.”

**(“Because we have and they have not/Because they want what we have got/The enemy is poverty/And the wall keeps out the enemy/And we build the wall to keep us free/That’s why we build the wall/We build the wall to keep us free!”)**

Dietrich: “Oh, this is such fascist bullshit.”

Zee: “But effective.”

Dietrich: “Of course. It always is.”

**(“Anybody want a drink?”)**

Zee and Dietrich: “Yes.”


	2. Act II

**(“Brother, what’s my name? My name is-” “Our Lady of Underground!”)**

Zee: “Not wasting any time on the drunk and/or high, I see.”

**(“Mr. Hades set you free/To work yourself into the ground/Free to spend eternity/In the factory/** **And the warehouse/Where the whistles scream/And the foreman shouts/And you’re punchin’ in/And you’re punchin’ in/And you’re punchin’ in/And you can’t punch out!”)**

Zee: “They’re really enjoying themselves right now.”

Dietrich: “Well, they're the voices in your head, right? The ones always telling you the worst version of things, the worst outcome.”

Zee: “And this is basically the worst thing.”

**(“Flowers, I remember fields of flowers/Soft beneath my heels.”)**

Zee: “This is a very pretty song about very bitter, and instant, regret.”

**(“Come home with me!”)**

Dietrich: “He’s good at dramatic entrances, too. Solid timing.”

Zee: “Poet.”

**(“Hades, I know this boy.” “One of the unemployed?”)**

Zee: “I prefer ‘freelancer’.”

**(“Everybody gather round/Everybody look and see/What becomes of trespassers with no respect for property!”)**

Dietrich: *sniffs* “Property is theft.”

**(“Why break a sweat?/Why waste your precious breath?/Why beat your handsome brow?/Nothing changes, nothing changes, nothing changes/Anyhow.”)**

Zee: “Accept your powerlessness and go home? Rude.”

**(“‘Cause the ones who tell the lies/Are the solemnest to swear/And the ones who load the dice/Always say the toss is fair/And the ones who deal the cards/Are the ones who take the tricks/With their hands over their hearts/While we play the game they fix.”)**

Dietrich: *nods hard* “Yes…YES.”

**(“What does he care for the logic of kings?”)**

Dietrich: *pumps his fist* “Let him have it, Seph!”

**(“How long?/Just as long as I am your wife/It’s true the earth must die/But then the earth comes back to life/And the sun must go on rising.”)**

Zee: “We need to talk about how Hades’s whole problem is that his wife has a career and responsibilities that he’s not a part of and he can’t handle that.”

Dietrich: “I think you’re onto something there, love.”

**(“Why do we build a wall and then call it freedom?”)**

Zee: “I think you know the answer to that, deep down.”

**(“Can I change the way it is?”)**

Dietrich: *leans forward, eyes bright, nodding*

**(“If you want to hold a woman, son/Hang a chain around her throat/Made of many carat gold/Shackle her from wrist to wrist/With sterling silver bracelets/Fill her pockets full of stones/Precious ones, diamonds/Bind her with a golden band/Take it from an old man.”)**

Zee: “Orpheus, do not take relationship advice from a man in a failing marriage.”

Dietrich: “Yeah, ask his wife how that’s been working out for him.”

Zee: “So, feeling triggered by all this ‘old man’ stuff?”

Dietrich: *shrugs* “Nah. Authoritarians are inherently insecure.”

**(“King of shadows/King of shades/Hades was king of the Underworld-” “Oh, it's about me?”)**

Dietrich: “You bet it is. You tremendous fucker.”

**(“And what has become of the heart of that man/Now that the man is King?/What has become of the heart of that man/Now that he has everything?/The more he has, the more he holds/The greater the weight of the world on his shoulders/See how he labors beneath that load/Afraid to look up, and afraid to let go/So he keeps his head low, he keeps his back bending/He's grown so afraid that he'll lose what he owns/But what he doesn't know is that what he's defending/Is already gone.”)**

Zee: “So this entire, beautiful song is basically a magical therapy session for Hades?”

Dietrich: “And it actually seems to be working. I think.”

**(“Orpheus was a poor boy/But he had a gift to give/This poor boy brought the world back into tune is what he did/And Hades and Persephone/They took each other's hands/And brother, you know what they did? They danced.”)**

Dietrich: *stands up, grinning, and holds out a hand*

Zee: *incredulous* “You’re kidding, right?”

Dietrich: “Just getting in the spirit of things.”

Zee: “Do you even know how to dance? Cause I don’t.”

Dietrich: “So? We can be bad at it together.”

**(“Don't need a ring for my finger/Just need a steady hand to hold/Don’t promise me fair sky above/Don't promise me kind road below/Just walk beside me, love/Any way the wind blows.”)**

Zee: *her face tucked against his neck* “Simple’s good.”

Dietrich: “Yeah, it is.”

**(“Can we go?” “I don't know.”)**

Dietrich: *goes stiff* “WHAT.”

**(“Only one thing to be done/Let them go but let there be some term to be agreed upon/Some condition…”)**

Dietrich: “TERMS? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!”

Zee: “The Fates’ song just explained why he can’t just let them leave.”

Dietrich: “Well, that’s bullshit.”

**("Well, you won't be hand in hand/You won't be arm in arm, side by side, and all of that/He said you have to walk in front, and she has to walk in back." "Why?" "And if you turn around to make sure she's coming too/Then she goes back to Hadestown/And there ain't nothing you can do.")**

Dietrich: "Oh, C'MON."

Zee: "You're taking this very personally."

Dietrich: *crosses his arms* "It's just stupid, that's all."

**(“It’s a trap.” “It’s a trial.”)**

Dietrich: *grumpily rolls his eyes* “Semantics.”

**(“Show her the way so we can see/Show her the way the world can be/If you can do it, so can she/If she can do it, so can we.”)**

Dietrich: “No pressure or anything.”

**(“Hades, you let them go.” “I let them try.” “Then how ‘bout you and I? Are we gonna try again?” “It’s time for spring. We’ll try again next fall.”)**

Zee: “So at least he’s going to let her do her job and not throw a giant pity party about it. That’s progress, right?”

Dietrich: “Baby steps, I guess.”

**(“I'm coming wait for me/I hear the walls repeating/The falling of our feet and/It sounds like drumming/And we are not alone/I hear the rocks and stones/Echoing our song/I'm coming!”)**

Zee: *smiles a little* “She finally has some faith in herself.”

**(“Doubt comes in and meets a stranger/Walking on a road alone/Where is she?/Where is she now?/Doubt comes in.”)**

Dietrich: “Oh no.”

**(“Who am I?/Why am I all alone?”)**

Dietrich: “Oh no.”

**(“Who do I think I am?/Who am I to think that she would follow me into the cold and dark again?”)**

Dietrich: “Oh no.”

**(“Who am I?/Who am I against him?/Who am I?/Why would he let me win?/Why would he let her go?/Who am I to think that he wouldn't deceive me just to make me leave alone?”)**

Dietrich: “Oh NO.”

**(“I used to see the way the world could be/But now the way it is-is all I see-”)**

Dietrich: “ORPHEUS.”

**(“It’s you.” “It’s me.”)**

Dietrich: *groans* “He turned around, didn’t he?”

Zee: *sadly* “Yeah.”

Dietrich: “You had ONE job, Orpheus!”

**(“It’s a sad song…But we sing it anyway!”)**

Dietrich: *eyes light up* “Fuckin’ A!”

**(“Cause here's the thing/To know how it ends/And still begin to sing it again/As if it might turn out this time/I learned that from a friend of mine”)**

Zee: “That’s basically Dragonslayer in a nutshell, huh?”

Dietrich: “Less punching and more singing, but yeah. You ALWAYS keep going, even – ESPECIALLY – when it doesn’t look like you’ll win.”

**(“It's a love song/It's a tale of a love from long again/It's a sad song/We keep singing even so/It's an old song/It's an old tale from way back when/And we're gonna sing it again and again/We're gonna sing it again.”)**

Dietrich: *eyes glowing* “Yes we are!”

Zee: “You can’t sing, remember?”

Dietrich: “What’s your point?”

**(“Pour the wine /and raise a cup/Drink up, brothers/you know how.”)**

Dietrich: “Damn right I do.”

**(“To Orpheus/and all of us/good night, brothers, good night.”)**

Dietrich: “Good night, Persephone – you were my favorite.”

Zee: *laughs* “Big surprise.”

Dietrich: *holds up his flask* “Well, you heard the lady. To Orpheus! And all the dreamers and poets. They're the ones who give us something to fight for.”

Zee: “You're such a romantic.”

Dietrich: “Yeah, well, don't tell anybody. I’ve got a reputation.”

Zee: *grins* “Never.” * snatches the flask from his hand* “To the romantics.”

Dietrich: *smiles back* “Hear, hear.”


End file.
